Jaisalmer, the Golden City

Just an extra report from Jaisalmer before I leave tonight for Jodhpur. Last night, after a rather nice curry, I was walking up the hill to the main gate of the fort in the darkness of a hot evening. The Hindu temple just below the gate had got into swing and was becoming very animated; sunset seems to have an effect here. It is perhaps the relief after many hours of energy sapping heat. However, the sound was reverberating around the ancient market square from a typically raucous public address system, with the quality of a vaguely eloquent fog horn. But, even with the lack of any refinement, it created just the kind of atmosphere you would expect in a place so exotic.
Below there is short video of the Hindu devotees singing their devotional music, and under that some later pix of (and from) the Mandir Palace outside the fort walls. This palace has gone the same way as many other Indian princely establishments and is now a very up market hotel. But not so expensive at about 35 Euro a night.

Cheers from Del

You Want Camel Trek?

Well, that’s the question I have been asked once too often. It’s hot and sultry here in Jaisalmer but compared with the sky high humidity in Delhi, its more bearable. I had one good nights sleep in Delhi but it’s not enough, so hopefully here in Jaisalmer I’ll get the sleep I need to catch up on.
The 18 hour train journey took me through the Rajasthan tourist hotspots of Jaipur and Jodhpur and across the desert to here. Looking at the map it doesn’t look like the well over 900km that it really is. While I filmed the passing shrub and desert land, sand was billowing up from the track creating a mini sandstorm.

Jaisalmer is a pretty unique place. The whole fort area is literally a living museum of things of yesterday. Today thousands of people live within the walls but only a few 100 years ago it was a thriving wealthy town on the main camel trading routes of Asia. The final decline came when India was partitioned in 1947 which created a closed border with the newly formed Pakistan. In wandering the narrow lanes and alleys it is easy to see where the money comes from now. Cafes, shops, restaurants and hotels all point to one thing – tourism. It is summer here and this is the off season so being a tourist can be a bit harrowing with salesmen of all kinds chasing too few travellers. But I think I can survive in this giant manmade sand castle.

Street life in this far flung town is not symbolised by horrendous traffic jams because there doesn’t seem to be many cars here. It’s pretty laid back with only the odd scooter of rickshaw to deal with and even the ever present camels.

The temperature rises during the day, with a hot wind that carries sand everywhere. Not the kind of weather to be moving very much, or at all. So, quite happy to take things as they come. There is always tomorrow.

Family group on a railway station while travelling here and the entrance to Hotel Paradise last night. Cheers

Delhi and Safe

These trips never seem to go badly wrong but the vexing moments that come and go in waves. My arrival in Delhi was not without one of these trying events. The flight from Helsinki to Delhi had already been deferred to following day, but when the check in assistant said that I was on standby; alarm bells. He followed up with a promise that there would be a seat. Shortly after that the plane was proclaimed delayed with little reason given. Another proclamation came and hour later, exactly the same as first, except for ‘technical reasons’. Finally, and suddenly, the plane was being boarded and I joined a huge queue, hearing stories of overbooking being put about by some of the people. In my standby status I was definitely feeling nervous. However!
Delhi is much the same as last time I arrived there 2 years ago – hot, overcast and very humid.

The Delhi Partiers

The 3 hour flight delay turned out to be blessing in disguise as there was much less time to wait in the airport ‘restaurant’. Quite a seedy affair where broken subdued lighting and ancient crumbling furniture characterises the place perfectly. Four young professional guys ambled in from the rich side of town in. I cant honestly say, after almost 3 days of frustrating slow travel, I really didn’t want to join in, but they were a friendly bunch. Three hours passed very quickly and then into the steamy morning light to get the bus to Delhi. Now in the Smyle Inn situated amidst a chaotic array of shops, cheap cafes, and smells that often haunt me when I am dreaming of being here.
The Main Bazaar area opposite Delhi station. By the way, Smyle Inn can be found on the internet for advance bookings. http://www.smyleinn.com/

The only real job I had to do was to confirm and arrange further train reservations. It all went quite smoothly thanks to the staff working in the International Tourist office at New Delhi station. Now, armed with 22 reservation slips, I am just about ready to go. Tomorrow it will be to Jaisalmer in the Thar Desert next to Pakistan. Almost too tired to think at the moment, let alone make this blog.

Munich and Helsinki

So it’s started at last, but thanks to the almost inconceivable astronomical rise in the price of a barrel of oil, my flight schedule has altered a little. Fin Air has cancelled its early flight from Munich which makes it impossible for me to catch the connecting flight to Delhi. The deal is that I have accepted a free night in the Cumulus Airport Hotel (Helsinki) and fly out tomorrow. So while here in the land of Nokia Rubber Boot and Mobile Phone Company I have the perfect opportunity to post a blog.

Its all a bit odd as here I am in Helsinki enjoying every minute of it and as quick as I arrived here, I’ll be departing just as quickly. Apart from a glitch with the transport that was supposed to be getting me from the airport to the hotel, almost everything is fine.

Went down town this evening and in the bright sunshine it seemed that almost every Helsinkiite was out making the most of it. That’s what happens in the northern regions – they really celebrate these vital, all too few days when the sun hardly disappears.

The movie is of the harbour in Helsinki.

And then I have uploaded a slide show of pix I took during my seach for a good cheap fill. Its very expensive here so I ended up in a place beginning with Mac……. Have a nice day.

I am sure many people, including myself, will get a bit confused as to exactly where I am going. At first glance of the map you might suspect a numerically gifted inebriated spider had staggered over the image of India. However, but there is just a little method in my madness.

The Master Plan

1) 11^th July arrival in Delhi. Change money and confirm train reservations. Find some useful medical preparations for rear end problems that have an irritating habit of cropping up at the most inconvenient moments. Apart from all that, not much else to do except a bit of sight seeing - maybe.

2) 14^th July Jaisalmer. Fort city in the Thar Desert close to Pakistan.

3) 17^th July Jodhpur. The blue city with a massive fort. Those special short baggy horseriding trousers are named after this city.

4) 18^th July Agra. The home of Taj Mahal but its Friday and that tourist magnet will be closed. I want to see Agra Fort and catch the view of the Taj across the bend in the River Jamuna.

5) 19^th July Allahabad. The site of a 12 yearly Hindu festival called Kumba Mela. The confluence of three rivers is where up to 30million Hindus gather on a particularly auspicious day. It’s no use bathing in one of the rivers as it hasn’t existed for thousands of years – if it ever did?

6) 20^th July Kolcatta (Calcutta) Pretty full of old British monuments and colonial history. Speaking as an ever so slightly ancient Briton it should be interesting!

7) 22^nd July Bhubaneshwar This is the capital of the state of Orisa, which is infinitely easier to pronounce. Large temples here too.

8) 24^th July Araku Valley A scenic hilly resort in the Eastern Ghats (hills) with a pleasant train ride. Should be a bit cooler here.

9) 28^th July Mumbai (Bombay). A giant leap across India in order to use the Konkan train south. This is a comparatively new line that snakes down the west coast to Goa.

10) 30^th July Belur and Halebad. Very ancient soapstone temples.

11) 31^st July Mysore Been here before and liked it very much. More later.

12) 1^st Aug Chennai (Madras) A day here.

13) 2^nd Aug Tiruchi Another well known temple city in the Hindu heartland.

14) 4^th Aug Fort Cochin 3 days relaxation here in one of my favourite places in Kerala.

15) 7^th Aug Kovalam Now a destination for package holidays. Used to be extremely laid back so I wonder what is in store for me.

16) 9^th Aug Alleppey. Special day as it’s the colourful dragon boat race event. 100 paddlers per boat will make it quite a spectacle in this tropical paradise.

17) 12^th Aug A mammoth stride north and a visit to the Ajanta caves near Jalgaon.

1/18) 14^th Aug In Delhi again for a day and then on to Shimla. I hope it’s as good as 2 years ago.

For many months the itinerary gradually evolved, taking in a few places I have been to before but also some destinations that are going to be new to me. After 5 days in India a 30 day Indrail train pass kicks in and hence the 19 nights spent on sleeper trains. The pass makes it very simple to make reservations months in advance and also a lot of money can be saved by not staying in hotels. What about showers, clean clothes, and all the other niceties in life? Well, not much of a problem as I’ll only have two sets of clothes and generally most larger railway stations have showers for passengers. What more could anyone want?

Helsinki 11^th July 2008. Next post will be from Delhi.

Introduction

Hi Folks. This is just to let you know that the India trip (2008) will be posted here and hopefully it will be easy to access the movie clips and images.
Anyway, its a week away now till I head out to India, via Helsinki, and then with luck I'll be able to upload bits and pieces from the trip as I go. In places where Internet links are of the snail variety, I'll probably have to save the pix and movies for a better connection.

Here is a link to an intro movie I cobbled up a few weeks ago.

BTW. The neat little slide show up on the right is just a service that Blogger supplies. Not my pictures.